Jagan Refuses To Attend Naidu's Swearing-In

YSR Congress Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday turned down the invitation sent by Nara Chandrababu Naidu to attend his swearing-in ceremony to be held on June 8.

Speaking to reporters here on Saturday after the review meeting of 5 north-coastal Andhra districts, he said, "On one hand Naidu has been seeking donations from the people to build the capital city, and on the other an estimated Rs. 30 crores is being lavishly spent on the swearing-in ceremony, which at this point of time is not wise. I leave it to their wisdom, but I personally will not ratify such a wasteful expenditure."

Jagan also asked the Chief-Minister-designate to specify the period specific to which he plans to waive off the farm loans in Andhra Pradesh.

He was apparently referring to the ongoing controversy over the farm loan waiver scheme in Telangana wherein the TRS came in for sharp criticism for limiting the waiver to loans taken during 2013-14.

The YSRCP chief also justified the review of the party's debacle in the recent elections.

He said that the reviews were aimed at correcting the shortcomings in some of the constituencies which the party had lost.

"It is not that we were in power and lost now, and are searching for reasons. We started off with 1 MP and 1 MLA, went up to 2 MPs and 20 MLAs, and we now we have 8 MPs and 67 MLAs in Seemandhra, and 9 MPs and 70 MLAs as a whole. Our graph has been on the rise. What we have reviewed is if there are any lacunae in the organization so that corrective measures can be taken in the days to come. We have taken feedback from the cadre, which will be the basis for strengthening the party structure," he said. (INN)